A Cinderella Moment
by maidmisachan
Summary: ONE SHOT. Nino, Adrien, Alya, and Marinette go to a local arcade to play some games. Will this place affect the relationship between Adrien and Marinette? Adrinette (Loosely based on a true story)


A Cinderella Moment

 _Ring ring ring._

"And that's the end of the lesson for today. Please remember to read chapters 5-6 before tomorrow!" Madame Bustier said.

"Hey Adrien, want to go to the arcade today?" Nino asked while Adrien was packing up his bag.

"Sure, I've got nothing booked!" Adrien said.

"Hey dudes! Mind if a few friends tag along?" Alya asked from behind them.

"Sure thing!" Nino said. Adrien smiled at Marinette, and Marinette goofily smiled back.

* * *

"Let's play Dance Dance Revolution!" Adrien said as the quartet walked into the arcade.

"Nah-uh, no way am I playing against a guy who HAS one in his bedroom." Nino said. Adrien laughed.

"Marinette will play against you!" Alya said, putting a hand on Marinette's shoulder.

"Alyaaaaa…." Marinette whispered.

"Really Marinette?" Adrien asked with a smile on his face.

"I-uh-uh, yeah! I'll you against play- I mean, play against you!" Marinette stuttered.

"Great, let's go!" Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and walked with her to the Dance Dance Revolution game. Alya and Nino followed after them with smirks on their faces.

"What song do you want to dance to?" Adrien asked Marinette as he was inserting coins into the machine.

"Ummm, whichever one you want to!" Marinette said.

"Have you played before?" Adrien asked.

"A few times," Marinette said, "I can do the basic level ones."

"Alright then, let's go with…," Adrien trailed off while scrolling through the songs, "…Kick the Can!"

Nino bursted out laughing.

"What..?" Adrien asked.

"Nothing, it's nothing dude," Nino said while trying to contain his laughter. Alya gave Nino a look.

" _Are you ready?"_ the game announcer said. _"Here we go!"_

The game started playing the song and Marinette started to see why Nino was laughing. It was a remix of the Can-Can song! Marinette started giggling as the arrows appeared on the screen.

"What's funny?" Adrien asked while pressing the arrows with his feet.

"It's just the song, it's funny!" Marinette said while pressing the arrows with her feet as well. "Though it is fun to dance to!"

Adrien smiled warmly at her response.

The song ended a minute and a half later and the scores came up with Adrien in the lead and Marinette not far behind him.

"You did really good for only playing a few times!" Adrien said.

"Thanks Adrien," Marinette smiled. _"I feel like such a klutz when I play the game though…"_ she said in her head.

"Anyone want to try some football? I heard this game came in recently." Alya asked, pointing to a caged football arcade game.

"I'm up for it!" Nino said.

 _ **Author's note: Just like in British English, "soccer" is called "football," in French.**_

They walked over to the football game. It was in the shape of a 3D rectangle and completely caged in on all sides, except the front side facing the player. There were small rubber straps on the top portion of the front, and a large, thick rubber strap running across the bottom of the front. The inside of the back of the game had a panel with a plastic football goal **(soccer goal)** glued on it, and in the middle of the game was a 2-foot tall foam football goalie on a rotating metal plate. There was a small screen at the top of the game that showed the timer on one side and your score on the other.

"Let's see," Alya said reading the rules, "It says to kick the football past the soccer goalie as many times as you can in 30 seconds. Any shots made before or after the horns will not be counted. Sounds simple, I'll go first!"

She inserted her coins into the machine.

The game revved to life, and through the speakers the game said, "Are you ready?" as the football was released to the front of the game, touching the rubber strap at the bottom. "Three, two, one. Go!"

A horn blared, and Alya began kicking the ball as fast as she could past the goalie who was slowly spinning in a small circle in front of the goal.

Thirty seconds later a horn blared.

"Wow, that was easy yet hard at the same time haha. I was surprised that goalie actually stopped the ball." Alya said.

"Well done player!" the game said as it showed her score of 10 shots.

"Not bad, let me try," Nino said as he inserted his coins into the game.

30 seconds later, and Nino had scored 9 shots.

"Not bad Player!" the game said.

"That little goalie blocked most of my shots!" Nino complained. Alya laughed.

"My turn," Adrien said, putting his coins into the machine.

Being the athlete of the group, Adrien scored 15 shots.

"Excellent Player!" the game said.

"I hate you bro," Nino jokingly said.

"It was somewhat easy yet hard for me too haha," Adrien laughed sheepishly. "I think the rubber strap makes it hard to aim right."

"Yeah it kind of does," Nino agreed. "You want to try Marinette?"

"Um, no thanks! I'm no good at soccer!" Marinette said.

"Come on girl, you're not gonna trip over the ball like in gym class with this one!" Alya said with a laugh. "It's completely klutz-proof!"

Marinette still had a look of uncertainty on her face.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine Marinette," Adrien reassured her with a smile.

Marinette looked at Adrien and nodded her head.

"Alright, I'll try it!"

She then inserted her coins into the machine and it started up. The game announcer said, "Are you ready?" as the football was released to the front of the game. Marinette got into her kicking position.

"Three, two, one. Go!"

The horn blarred, and Marinette kicked the football. It made it passed the goalie and hit the goal in the back. A sound of a cheering crowd was played and the ball rolled back to the front. Marinette gained more confidence and began kicking the ball at every opportunity she got.

"Keep going girl, you've got 15 seconds left!" Alya cheered.

As the ball rolled back to the front again, Marinette kicked the ball as hard as she could…but when she planted her foot back on the ground she felt like something was missing.

"My shoe! MY SHOE!" Marinette exclaimed. "Where'd it go?" She looked around frantically.

The remaining trio looked around for her shoe.

"Dude, it's inside the game!" Nino laughed and pointed to her shoe which was stuck way inside the goal in the game.

"Don't worry about your shoe, we'll get it later. Keep playing, you have 10 seconds left!" Alya said. Marinette continued with the game.

The game ended and Marinette had a score of 16 shots.

"Excellent job player!" the game said.

"Nice one Marinette!" Adrien said as he high-fived her. Alya and Nino did the same as well.

"I still can't believe that you lost your shoe INSIDE the game, hahahaha!" Alya laughed. "Looks like even klutz-proof games aren't 'Marinette klutz-proof'!"

Marinette laughed sheepishly with a blushing face, and rubbed the back of her head. "I guess I shouldn't have worn my ballet flats today."

"I'll go find one of the workers and see if they can get it out for you," Adrien said, as he left the group.

Alya leaned in towards Marinette.

"Looks like prince charming's going to help out his princess," Alya teased.

"Alyaaa…." Marinette whined.

Adrien returned a few minutes later with a worker who had a small pole in his hand.

"Where the shoe?" the worker asked.

"It's right there towards the goal," Adrien pointed.

"Got it. I'll admit this is the first time a shoe has gotten stuck in here. We usually have people who get their phones, watches, and jewelry stuck in here," the worker said as he used the pole to drag the shoe.

He pushed the shoe to the very edge of the front of the game.

"There you go. Have a nice rest of the day!" The worker said. The group thanked him and he went back to his usual routine.

Marinette reached down to pick up her shoe, but Adrien picked it up before her.

"Allow me, Cinderella," Adrien said as he kneeled down before her. He motioned for her to put her foot out towards him and she did so with a very red face. He then gently placed her ballet shoe back on her foot.

"T-Thanks…Adrien, " Marinette stammered.

Adrien got back up from the ground. "No problem! Now I suggest that next time the princess should take off her shoe before playing," he said with a wink. Marinette blushed an even deeper shade of red.

"Y-Yeah, I will make sure to cough my shoe-I mean take off my shoe!" Marinette said.

Alya and Nino looked slyly at each other.

"Alright you two, let's move on to another game!" Alya said as she pushed Marinette forward while Nino pushed Adrien forward.

They all walked around the place looking for another game to try, but Alya and Nino trailed a little bit further behind our two heroes.

"This was a great place to set them up Nino," Alya whispered. "It's such a casual setting that they don't even realize that something's starting to spark between them!"

"Thanks, I try to be a good wingman when I can hahaha," Nino said. "Soo…should we leave them alone for a bit and see if anything more happens?"

The pair watched as Adrien was trying to help Marinette shoot a basketball at another arcade game.

"If we look like we're casually playing another game nearby…I don't think they'll get suspicious," Alya said with a smirk.

"Fine by me," Nino smirked back, and the pair left our heroes to play another game.

* * *

 **This story was loosely based off of something that happened to me at Dave and Buster's with the Simpson's Soccer arcade game. My shoe did indeed get stuck inside the soccer cage, and my friend had to get a worker to get it out for me. Never again am I going to a Dave and Buster's with ballet flats on lol. XD**


End file.
